


The Same Mistake

by orphan_account



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, student politics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 02:33:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6355402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when you get a group of students in a room that all have huge ideas about the future of the university? You get student politics, that's what you get. </p><p>In a place where money is power, Hamilton has none, but he has friends and he understands the system. Can he claw his way up?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from my favourite Alexander Hamilton quote; 
> 
> "A well adjusted person is one who makes the same mistake twice without getting nervous."

The Capitol stood imposing in the foreground of the college, brand new brick gleaming clean under the weak midday sun. The student union building cast a shadow over the entirety of the forecourt. Alexander Hamilton looked up at it, eyes framed by thick lashes and determination. He took a deep breath and turned to the tall man that stood next to him; Hercules Mulligan, a second year in this college.

“So, I need to… Find the office in there?”

Mulligan was almost a foot taller than him; dark skinned, broad shouldered and proud chested. “Yeah,” he nodded, a grim set to his mouth, “they’ll sort the papers for your Scholarship.”

The younger man’s face relaxed, his shoulders dropped as he released the tension that had been gripping him, “Thanks.”

“No problem.” An easy grin spread across Mulligan’s face, completely destroying the grim look that had haunted his features earlier, “Us scholarship kids got to stick together, right?”

“Right.” Hamilton smiled back, uneasily. He was already aware of the fraying cuffs on his shirt and the tear of the material at the hem of his jeans. Standing next to Mulligan, brother of his benefactor’s friend and soon-to-be owner of a clothing store, he was more aware of his lack of money than ever before. He was poor compared to the poor students here.

Hamilton started to walk, but a hand on his shoulder caught him. He turned back to Mulligan. “Don’t get angry, ok? They’re all idiots in there.”

“Sure, I’ll try.” Hamilton nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

Several frustrating hours later, Hamilton stormed into the college bar with thunder in his throat and lightning sparking behind his eyes. Spotting Mulligan sat in a booth towards the back end of the room, he walked over. The second year noticed him with a smile and a distracted wave.

Mulligan was talking to a duo; he was sat with a small man, skinny and almost invisible next to Hercules’ bulk, and another man who wore the ease of his surroundings well enough to be a second year. He was sprawled across the booth and had forced Hercules and the other man onto the other side of the booth from him, crammed together.

Hamilton stood at the head of the table as Hercules finished a story he was telling the other two. He looked Hamilton over and rolled his eyes. “I warned you they were idiots.”

“I…” Hamilton shook his head. “I nearly punched him.”

“Who?” Hercules laughed.

“The one that handles the financials.”

“The bursar?”

“Yeah,” Hamilton said, anger draining from him. He looked sheepish, embarrassed even. “he looked at me like I’m stupid. I’m not stupid.” His voice was small when he said the second sentence, his eyes darted to the floor between his brand new shoes. They’d cost him far too much of his budget already. “I’m not stupid.”

Mulligan sighed, pulling his mass from his seat and clapping a hand to Hamilton’s shoulder. “Sit, I’ll buy you a drink.”

Hamilton started to protest, his mouth was open when Mulligan waved a hand and shrugged it off. “I’ll have none of that. Sit.”

Hamilton nodded and took the seat that Mulligan had just vacated. Mulligan had already disappeared towards the bar and the crowd that surrounded it, with the man that was now sat opposite Hamilton glaring after him.

“He doesn’t buy me any drinks,” the man muttered in a thick French accent, “bastard.” He glanced up at Hamilton and smiled, “Lafayette, Marquis de. Bonjour.”

“Alexander Hamilton.” He smiled back. “No title, sorry.”

Lafayette laughed, a throaty chuckle. “Don’t worry, mon ami, after graduation you will get many opportunities for titles.”

“John Laurens, hi.” The small man said, offering a hand to Hamilton. Hamilton took it, a delicate hand that was almost feminine in size and cleanliness. Only the slight roughness of his warm skin convinced Hamilton 

Laurens looked young; far too young to be sat in a bar. He wasn’t actually as small as Hamilton had thought. Mulligan was just ridiculously large. He was pretty, too, a blinding white row of teeth in his smile.

“How do you know Hercules?” Laurens asked. Hamilton toyed with an empty bottle on the table.

“His brother lodged me when I first moved to the country, Hugh’s a good person. Hercules wasn’t around much, but we met a few times.”

Lafayette grinned at him. “Another immigrant. Where from?”

“St Croix.” Hamilton shrugged, “Small island, nice weather, not good for college.”

“Oui,” Lafayette nodded, “Paris”, he said the word in the French way, Paree, “is the best I would get, but it’s so… how you say… shit?”

Laurens laughed. Hamilton found himself warming to the Frenchman. “I’d like to visit Paris someday.”

“Oh, you should. Beautiful city. Just, not for me.” Lafayette smiled. He wrapped one of his long hands around the stem of the wine glass in front of him and raised it to his lips. “Too full of French people.”

“Ah… Should we move?” Laurens asked, looking over Hamilton’s shoulder as Hercules returned with a bottle of wine in hand and two green bottles in the other. Lafayette flapped a hand and dragged his feet towards him, kicking them under the table as he shifted his body.

Hercules placed the wine in front of the Frenchman and passed the two bottles of beer to the younger men. “Drink up.” He laughed, pulling his own half full bottle from in front of Hamilton and drawing from it.

“Oh, by the way, do either of you know where you’re living?” He added as an afterthought.

Hamilton nodded. He was at college accommodation, one of the cheapest places locally. He had no idea what he was going to do for his second year, rent was expensive. “King James.”

Laurens looked at him, an eyebrow quirked, “What floor?”

“First.”

“Same. Room 10.”

“You’re across the hallway from me.” Hamilton laughed, “I’m room 8.”

Hercules quirked an eyebrow at Lafayette. “What a coincidence.”

“Don’t look at me,” The Frenchman shrugged, “why would I want to get involved?”

“I recall the rooms we had last year…” Mulligan smiled. “Do you?”

“Bah. I wouldn’t change their rooms to match our old ones.” Lafayette waved a hand in Hercules’ face. “Not my style, Hercules.”

“You have style?” The big man laughed, “I didn’t know this.”

Lafayette turned, mouth open in mock shock. “Mon Dieu… You really wound me.”

“Soyez assuré que je regrette infiniment,” Hercules said softly, leaning into the Frenchman’s space. “I meant nothing by it, mon ami.”

The clumsy way his tongue tripped over the words sounded like it was meant to be as he lowered his voice. It was almost attractive, Hamilton realised with a start. He looked down at his beer. He wasn’t even drunk.

“Do you speak much French?” Laurens asked brightly.

Hercules shook his head, “Naw, just enough to piss off Laff.”

“Oh.” Laurens nodded, “I speak a bit… I can help you learn more if you want?”

Lafayette glared at Laurens. “Traitor!”

“What?”

“You traitor! I treat you like… like, my own brother! And you betray me!” Lafayette wiped a mock tear from his eyes, “What about our, our brotherhood, John?”

He said the word John like Jean, putting pressure on his accent. Hamilton was starting to get used to the way that Lafayette’s tongue made words sound French even when they weren’t. It was quite nice to listen to, really.

Hamilton laughed, a small laugh into his bottle. “I don’t speak any French… I speak Latin though? A little bit. And Greek.”

Laurens eyes widened. “You speak Latin and Greek?”

“I got bored,” Hamilton confessed. He shrugged. “It’s not… It’s not hard, really, not if you put the work in.”

Laurens nodded and drank from his bottle. “You studying languages then?”

Hamilton shook his head, “No. Law. What about you?”

“Politics… Like Lafayette, but he’s studying French too.” He rolled his eyes. “Just because he already speaks French.”

“If you’re good at something…” Lafayette smiled.

“NEVER DO IT FOR FREE.” Hercules shouted.

“Vive la Revolution!” Lafayette raised his glass. Hercules smashed his bottle against it, joyous and loud. Laurens joined in, a grin spreading over his delicate face.

A man approached the table. He was well dressed, a rich cream shirt contrasting hugely with his dark skin and tie. “Excuse me.”

“Aaron Burr! Sir!” Hercules smiled, moving closer to Lafayette. “How goes it?”

Aaron Burr was taller than Hamilton, broader than Lafayette, but still managed to look small when sat next to Hercules Mulligan. He was drinking coke from a glass, the condensation was running down the side over his fingers. He smiled, something slow and deliberate. “I heard talk of a revolution.”

“Oui, oui, mon ami.” Lafayette spat the words, “We are planning to overthrow the king. Obviously.”

“Ah,” Burr smiled, “who’s running against George?”

“George is running.” Hercules grinned. “The general vs the king, showdown of the century.”

“Has he… announced this yet?” Burr asked, eyebrows knotting together. “I didn’t think Election Season was starting?”

“When is it not Election Season?” Hercules asked, raising his glass to drink. “This is student politics. It never stops.”

Hamilton shot a look at Laurens, who looked as lost in the conversation as he felt. “I have no idea what’s happening here.” Laurens muttered to him, “I think the king is… um… the, fuck which one was the king? They’re both called George, see? So they name them things… like the king and the general…”

“So, the king is the one in power now, right?” Hamilton asked. “Yeah, that sounds right. The general is the other George, the one that’s running.”

Laurens nodded seriously. “I want to get into this, it’s good for the future. Student politics is good for a political career. And, Burr, there… he’s good at it even though he’s doing Law.”

“He’s doing Law?” Hamilton asked, looking over Burr as he talked to Hercules. He looked like the polished type that Hamilton had imagined doing Law, meaning that this was the calibre of student that Hamilton would have to be compared to every day. His stomach tightened. There was no way he could compete with that.

“Yeah,” Laurens nodded, “he’s doing Law… I think. Lafayette told me all about the people he knows and Burr is one of the players here.”

“He’s a player? Politically or…”

Laurens smirked. “Both.”

Burr looked over to the two freshmen. “I haven’t introduced myself, have I? I’m Aaron Burr, president of the Law Society.”

“Alexander Hamilton.”

“John Laurens.”

“Nice to meet you, Alex, John.” Burr smiled, the practiced smile of a wannabe lawyer. Hamilton wasn’t convinced that Burr wasn’t already a lawyer, his actions had the sheen of oiliness that most lawyers seemed to extrude. “I hope our paths cross again.” He stood up, “Alas, I have a social to deal with.”

“See you around, Burr.” Mulligan nodded at him as he left.

Lafayette rolled his eyes. “Aaron Burr, Sir.” He mimicked. “Slimy piece of-“

“Anyway,” Mulligan cut in, “are either of you interested in joining the union’s fun and games?”

Laurens nodded, “I’m interested. I need to know where to start, though. I don’t know… anything.” He laughed, rubbing his forehead, “I think you’re both involved, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m one of the king’s campaign team… Lafayette is firmly with the general, I’m thinking of changing sides.”

“Why?” Hamilton asked.

Mulligan took a moment to respond. “Last year, George was the first person to approach me about the student politics gig. They’re always looking for ambitious first years, it’s good to get them early. I liked him, so I helped him out. But the stuff he’s done over this year is…”

“He raised the cost for the sports teams to do things,” Lafayette sighed, “and the cost of library fines, and the price of wine. He’s taxing my wine.”

“…Yeah, that.” Mulligan nodded, “He’s just kind of an asshole, really. But I think it’s his last chance to run for anything this year, and Washington, the other guy, he seems like he cares… like, he seems good.”

Hamilton looked at Laurens. His face was rapt, almost glowing with excitement. They were the kind of first years that were needed, weren’t they? Eager to please and desperate to get somewhere in life. Like Laurens had said earlier, it was good for your future. Hamilton finished his beer before he asked, “So, how do we get involved?”


End file.
